I remember reading this, along with a few other provocative quotes, in February over at Inhabitatio Dei. Leave it to Stanley Hauerwas to stir the pot: “How many of you worship in a church that recognizes ‘Mother’s Day’? I am sorry to tell you that your salvation is in doubt.” And, before you accuse Hauerwas […]
I Think I Finally Have a Need for a Video iPod
I made a potentially time-consuming discovery the other day: TED.com. It’s pretty much one big happy convergence of brilliance. The ecclesiolgy pointed at in the video below makes it one of my favorites. Go to the site and enjoy. In the meantime, I’ll be trying to figure out how to get my hands on a […]
The Church as Cultural Text
I’m currently reading Everyday Theology: How to Read Cultural Texts and Interpret Trends by Kevin Vanhoozer. I was struck by his description of a cultural text, especially its implications for ecclesiology: cultural texts convey their propositions–their proposals about what it means to be human–not by offering explicit arguments but rather by displaying them in concrete […]
Jesus Made Me Puke
Such is the title of a new article on Rolling Stone’s website; the full title is “Jesus Made Me Puke: Matt Taibbi Undercover with the Christian Right.” In the article, Taibbi goes undercover and attends a three-day retreat with Cornerstone Church in San Diego Antonio, the church of John Hagee. I always find it interesting […]
How a Church Can Never Run Out of Money
I was thinking about church giving today for some reason, and it occurred to me that a church that spends its money on things that people believe in shouldn’t ever have a problem raising money. The implication is twofold: If people give more readily to certain kinds of projects than others (i.e. benevolence vs. buildings), […]
The Narcissism of Christian Education
A fairly quick and random thought that I had during a worship service a few weeks ago: Christian education is narcissistic. Well, I guess I should qualify that. The current status and priority that we give to Christian education is narcissistic. When a Christian desires to “go deeper” in their faith or to become “closer […]
More on “Mission Trips”
My last post created a decent amount of discussion. Essentially, my question was, What might be a more theologically accurate name for a missional relationship (as opposed to the typical “mission trip”)? Reminder: these are the (very basic) qualifications for a theologically-grounded missional relationship: Establish ongoing relationships by returning to a particular community rather than […]
Karl Barth on the Church
… as explained by Andrew Root. According to Root, in CD 4.3 Barth argues the following about the church: The world would be lost without Jesus Christ. The world would not necessarily be lost without the church. The church would be lost of it had no counterpart in the world. Humbling and thought-provoking. Since I […]
Discomfort as Normative Ecclesiology
In the class I am currently taking at Luther, we are studying the theology of ministry. More specifically, we are studying the “theology of the cross” as a foundation for ministry. To put it way too simplistically, the theology of the cross is essentially the understanding that the place where God breaks into the world […]
Denominational Differences
As someone who has been exposed to differing denominations (non-, Baptist, Lutheran, some 2nd-order Presbyterianism), I would like to burst the bubble of those who are lifelong adherents to a particular denomination. It is common across denominational boundaries that: No one sits on the front row. Coffee flows like milk and honey. Food and pot-luck […]